Always worth watching just for Cloris Leachman.
It’s every bit as grotesque, and in many ways, even more so. I saw it once and have no desire to ever watch it again.
The David Cronenberg version (starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis) is actually a pretty good film. It avoids the ridiculousness of the original David Hedison 1950s movie and of George Langelaan’s original story, where the the hero swaps body parts with the fly, getting a fly’s head (but inexplicably keeping his own mind) and one hand. If you think about it for more than a moment you realize that it’s absurd – how do all the veins and nerves hook up? How do the oversized fly parts not fall apart under their own weight? It’s pretty clearly science fantasy, having the trappings of science fiction, but ignoring facts in the service of pure body horror. (Another odd bit of trivia – in Langelaan’s story the scientist also has parts of a kitten that went into the teleporter and inexplicably got “lost”)
In the Cronenberg version, scientist Seth Brundle gets his DNA merged with that of a fly in the machine, and his body slowly rebuilds itself to the new DNA-spliced instructions. It’s still science fantasy, but it explores issues in an interesting way, and the writing is good. Definitely worth a watch. Ignore the stupid sequel, which was directed by the guy who did the special effects for this one.
Don’t Move (Netflix, 2024) Am I the only one who gets Nicholas Hoult confused with Finn Wittrock? No amount of ‘smokey eye’ makeup will turn Kelsey Asbille into Jennifer Lawrence which is fine she just had to lay on the floor and moan. It was made on a budget but it was at least watchable.
Recommended for only those desperate for a date night thriller that on it’s best day could be described as mediocre. On RT the Critics gave it 70% and fans 50%, which is what I would have guessed.
The whole cast is at peak form.
“Sed-a-give?!?!?!”
Showed clips to my daughter and she loved it.
“Butin’ on da ritzzzz!!!”
I’ve always said that The Producers is the best Mel Brooks movie for people who don’t like Mel Brooks.
Got that as part of my Halloween play list!
My wife talks about watching this version while eating beef stew served over rice.
I read someplace that Mel Brooks used original props from the 1931 Frankenstein movie when making Young Frankenstein.
It’s on my watch list. I’ll report when I get around to it (eventually).
Every movie should have a song and dance number. (I’m only half kidding. 
)
John Carpenter’s Village of the Damned
Meh
He got hold of Kenneth Strickfaden’s original electrical apparatus from the Universal Frankenstein movies. He even credited him in the opening credits.
Not that Brooks had to drag him out of retirement to do this – Strickfaden had been working all along doing special effects for movies. His stuff had appeared the previous year in Blackenstein and two years before that in Dracula vs. Frankenstein He also gave lectures and gave demonstrations. He died ten years after Young Frankenstein came out
A biography of him came out almost twenty years ago
Strickfaden had been working long before he made it big in Frankenstein. He had been running one of Charles Willard’s “Temple of Music” shows, which featured sparking electrical musical instruments, and he inherited a lot of apparatus from Willard when he retired. I wrote about him in Lost Wonderland.
The original with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder is much much better than the musical with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. I love Nathan Lane, but he played Max Bialystock with too much energy.
I’ve seen the musical version in film and on stage, and my view is that while Bialystock is a “type” that can be played reasonably well by many actors, Bloom only works with Gene Wilder.
One could do a whole masterclass on comedic timing and delivery from the “I’m hysterical” bit alone. Broderick didn’t land it. John Gordon Sinclair (whom I saw live) didn’t land it. Wilder was perfect.
Noted. I’ll seek out that version.
In honor of the season, The Mummy (1932). Amazon Prime.
Boris Karloff in the title role, is brought back to life after 3700 years by an ill-timed reading of a sacred forbidden scroll. He then discovers that someone in his social circle is the reincarnation of his old girlfriend, and he spends the rest of the film ensorcelling her through his mystical powers, luring her to the museum where he can kill her (for … reasons?) and then bring her back to life, like himself. He’s foiled when the girlfriend – played by the unforgettable Zita Johann – reads her own sacred prayers, and a statue of Isis comes to life and zaps Boris to death. The end.
Surprisingly dull. And also surprisingly, Karloff only spends a few minutes in the iconic mummy makeup. The remainder of the film he’s a normal looking, albeit wrinkly, man wearing a fez.
I just received another painful lesson on the folly of revisiting the joys of one’s youth.
Last night (at - good grief- 5pm!) I saw Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) in a movie theater for the first time in 45 years. Not an experience I will ever repeat again. No one in the audience was younger than 50 and the audience participation was limited to the few who remembered the call outs and an attempt by three or four to get people into the aisles to dance the “Time Warp” was a failure. No dancing after that and precious few attempting to sing along. The ban on throwing things was met with universal compliance. I share equal guilt as I fruitlessly waited for the enthusiasm to reach critical mass before adding my own.
The movie by itself? Well…it’s not really very good, is it?
Interesting film, and another entry in the “monster discovers modern woman in the reincarnation of his lost love” John Balderston (who rewrote Dracula for the stage and wrote the Universal screenplay, and also contributed to Frankenstein) used the same idea (without a monster) in Berkeley Square (Also, it’s not in his “Dracula” – the idea of Dracula claiming the reincarnation of a lost love is a more recent invention).
But, yeah, it’s generally pretty dull. Also racist at times, with Karloff’s mummy having the power to control black people. If you want action , watch Steven Sommers’ remake with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. It actually IS a remake, if you look close, but it takes a lot of liberties with the original. More fun, though.
Not my experience. About a year ago I saw the movie with many younger people. Many danced. Showings are very common:
TRHPS Official Fan Site: Participation: Showtimes: Regular Showtimes.
I didn’t realize until reading the credits, but “the Nubian” was played by Noble Johnson, who’s most noteworthy role was as the chief in King Kong.
He was also in Son of Kong, and was the Guard in the 1925 silent version of The Thief of Bagdad. He had quite a career, even if a lot of his roles were stereotyped.